TOKYO - Tokyo is now the new Windy City in my mind. Today was unbelievably windy, causing some problems in getting from one place to another. But, we arrived at the Tokyo Game Show, cameras in hand, ready to conquer Japan's largest video game trade show.

　　And it is really big. Not as big as E3 is now, but big enough to present a problem to your feet after walking around for hours. The good thing is that Calpis Water (a brand of Japanese soda) is never far from view.

　　The first game I played at the show was Imagineer's Kitty the Cool! (check out the screens, also in Friday's update). This is one cool game.

　　The only thing that makes it cool though, in my opinion, is the use of Sanrio characters. The gameplay itself is not at all challenging - it's just going around the buttons on the PS controller in a certain tempo. It's still a fun concept and is definitely worth a look. It's not as cool as Parappa or Bust A Move Dance & Rhythm Action, but it was still fun.

　　They must have grouped the "weird" games together. A huge object of laughter and amusement was Mathilda's game Paranoia Scape. The game's design incorporates the art style of Japanese artist Screaming Mad George. The game is actually a 3D action pinball game (you figure that one out...). This game is beyond disturbing - disturbing in a Monty Python skit gone terribly and horribly wrong kind of way. When you look at the picture of the little banner they were handing out, you'll see what I mean. It's just damn cool - but so weird - and gives new meaning to "assface." Just look at the pic, and you'll know what I mean. At one point this evening, we must have laughed for a good five minutes straight over this thing.

　　One of the other seriously cool things was the stage shows. If you haven't gotten a chance to see a stage show at either an American or Japanese trade show, you're missing out. Tecmo had the best one hands down. It had Dead or Alive characters duking it out in real life, on stage. Quite the performance (we'll have a Quicktime of this next week - it's really cool).

　　You've read about the rest of the show already by now. Surrounded by the best the Japanese game industry has to offer, I felt overwhelmed. What to play first? I picked up a large amount of fliers and other freebies. One thing that's cool about the Tokyo Game Show (well, there are lots, but one in particular) is that companies set up little "stores" in their booths, selling goods from their games. Now if only US companies could do that at E3.

　　The biggest one was Compile, the company who is restructuring its operations. It was selling everything under the sun for cheap. Wat picked up Fish Boy from Puyo Puyo. Wild.

　　Just when we were leaving, I caught a glimpse of the Bust A Move stage show, where they had Hiro and Pinky duking it out in a real-life dance contest to "The Natural Playboy." There's only one word for that: sweet.

　　After the show, it was back to work where the madness commenced to get these updates to you on time. We ordered pizza for dinner, including a Mexican pizza: jalapenos, taco meat, tomatoes, and I think corn… it tasted pretty good, too. Oh yeah, one thing I totally forgot to mention yesterday was that while in Akihabara, one of the huge deals we saw was brand-new copies of Yoshi's Story for the N64 selling for about 1980 yen (US$15). Now that's amazing.

　　So that's where it stands now. For snapshots from the show, check out the Tokyo Game Show Day One Scrapbook. And now, without further ado, I am going to sleep. It's almost 2:00am here, and I was sleepy at 6:00... ah well.

　　Now if I don't get trampled in the stampede tomorrow during the first public day, you'll see another couple reports from the show floor and another diary. Later!